The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-02-11


"A special meeting of the council wa
held on Wednesday evening, at which
! time the city charter was under consid
Grafton. AS revised, the charter was &c
cepted and forwarded to the proper par
ties at st. Paul.
!. The wind storm of last night ha.
placed another embargo upon railroad
traffic. The 1910 tram from st. Pau
J last evening stopped at Mankato and re
turned TO that city this morning. TIL,
Northwestern also suffers from too mucl
snow.
Miss Lillian Forde, teacher of draw
J ing and penmanship in the public
schools, will form class in penmanshir
on Tuesday evening at the w. c. T. U
J reading rooms. Miss Forde is not only
an expert in penmanship, but she is al
excellent instructor as well, and pupils
who join her class can RELY upon making
rapid progress in this most important &C
complishment. Parents will see by ref
erence to our special locals that Miss
Forde has put the price of tuition at q
cents per lesson.
Lake Crystal Union: DIED, last Friday
morning, Feb. 4th, in Mankato, Miss
Hattie Meyers, aged 10, eldest daughter
of Henry Meyers, Butternut Valley,
who has been in that city for time past
learning the dressmaking trade. II
seems she had the chicken pox and after
they were thoroughly out of her person
went back, causing her death very I'M
expectedly. She was regarded as a
very industrious girl, good habits and
greatly beloved by her parents and
highly respected by all whe knew her.
"A provision has been added to the
high license bill since it passed the sem
ate, making all liquor licenses issued be-
fore the LIST of July, 1887, expire on that
date, and all licenses issued thereafter
will come under the new law. Under
the present license of $50, Mankato last
year realized 1915. Included in this
amount is the license on billiard and
pool tables. We now have 43 licensed
saloons. Provided all these take out a
license at $500 it will give the city rev.
enue of about $4,000. But is safe to say
that less than one-half the saloons now
in existence in this city will continue
under the new license. Say that twenty
take out permit, it will then increase
the city revenues over $1,000, with less
than half the places open where drink
can be obtained.
We understand that one of our cit
liens who has great regard for the
salvation of st. Paul, forwarded to one
of the Blue Earth representatives in the
early part of the week an amendment to
the high-license law, which provides
something like this:
"But nothing in the bill shall be so
construed as to affect the sale of any in
toxicating drinks or beverages, tea, cof-
fee and cider included, within the cor
porate limits of the SANITY City,"
If this measure shall be introduced
and passed as it would seem eminently
proper from the recent change of heart
of the Pioneer Press, it Will have the eff
feet of saving st. Paul from bankruptcy
and possible dissolution.
Lake Crystal Union: An employe in
Supt. Spencer's Office, Mankato, is per-
fecting switch danger signal, which has
been placed along the main track, west
of the depot at some distance from
switch in that city. A strip of zinc four
feet long and about eight inches wide is
fastened to two upright posts, held in
place with one end in the ground, and
the other fastened with cleats to tele-
graph pole. In the center of this strip
of zinc wire is attached, the other end
leading into the telegraph Office. A dry
battery in box Sx10 inches is placed
on an engine, wire running from this
connects with the cab bell. Before the
engine approaches the switch, an arm
is showed out, on the end of which
brush is fastened; this runs along the
zinc, producing current, and ringing
the bell if the switch is open, but if clos
ed, no alarm is given. So far, the ex-
periments have proved very satisfactory,
and the invention is being examined
with view to its adoption on the entire
line
Mr.. S. A. V. Blake, private secretary
to Superintendent Spencer, of the Oma-
ha, will take his departure for Detroit,
Mich, tomorrow, where, as previously
announced in these columns, he will en-
gage in business with his father. On
Sunday afternoon last he rendered some
twenty-five or thirty of his young lady
and gentlemen friends a banquet at the
Mankato House, and it is said to have
been one of the most recherche affairs ever
offered for acceptance by any of our
young people. The Mankato House
more than sustained its reputation upon
this occasion by supplying a spread that
would do honor to the best hostelry in
our larger cities. Game was served,
fruits of the choicest varieties was abund-
antly supplied, while the variety and
palatableness of the desert was tempting
in the extreme. The young people all
voted Mr.. Blake royal entertainer, and
the Mankato House proprietor par
ercelIe1ace in preparing banquet. The
young friends of Mr.. Blake are loath to
part with. him, and in doing so they lose
a gentleman of culture and refinement.
All wish him success in his business as
sociations, and an agreeable life partner
when he reaches that stage that he feels
it is not well for imam to be alone"
The ReUielU takes occasion this week
to unnecessarily and unjustly criticise
Mr.. M. B. Wood, as chairman of the
Ways and Means committee of the city
council for paying 8 per cent on a loan
of S., 500 with which to tide the city
over until the taxes are collected, by
claiming that "shrewd business men do"
better. There certainly was no Occa-
sion for any such slur being cast upon
the action Of the chairman of this COM
mittee. The city now has a loan of
So, 900 with the Citizens Bank which is
drawing per cent. 1t has never been
able to secure accommodations on short
time loans at less rate. The chairman
of the committee felt that it was no more
than equity oil the part of the city to
divide its business between the different
banking institutions. After arranging